Many argue that we have no motivation to learn unless it rewards us. These rewards include the physical; food, water, sex or drugs that make us feel good. These also include social rewards such as a pleasant sensation (Rolls et al. 2003), an attractive face (Aharon et al. 2001), positive words (Hamann & Mao 2002), a positive interaction with others (Rilling et al. 2002) or the gaining social status (Tooby & Cosmides, 2002).

When we experience anything, one of the dopamine pathways activated is the mesolimbic pathway, which triggers activity in the Amygdala. This structure processes the intensity of the experience and the degree to which we perceive it as a negative or positive one. If it is positive (or rewarding) it triggers the release of dopamine, which is the reward. Then the fontal lobe stores the reward value of that experience and the behaviors that led to the reward. This gets laid down in memory as incentive salience or ‘wanting’ and becomes an intrinsic motivation.

Even our most complex motivations and experiences are mediated through the lens of these primary rewards. So for example, our motivation to earn money, is in many cases motivated by the dopamine release we receive when spending it. Similarly doing work or learning we love can be traced to dopamine release arising from us perceiving it as rewarding.

This all begins to sound a lot like a combination of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and classical conditioning. These fundamental and deeply embedded behavior and reward pathways, laid down in the brain so early, likely form the blueprint for our later motivational landscape. So how can we use these blueprints to motivate adult learners? Well here are three suggestions.

1. Food reward – Remember when classroom trainers use to throw chocolates at you if you got an answer right? Well, they were spot on and despite our dietary paranoia, we should return to this practice. Chocolate contains phenylethylamine and triggers the mesolimbic dopamine pathway. So not only could we use this reward to condition a strong association between the achievement of learning and the reward of chocolate, we should also encourage the learner to eat it immediately, thus initiating the chemical release and creating incentive salience.

2.Security and safety reward – Creating an environment of safety and security, not only reduces activity in the Amygdala, rendering a situation less emotionally charged, but in mice studies it also stimulates the caudoputamen region of the brain, known to be involved in reward and motivation.

This knowledge helps us focus not only on reducing learner threats, but also on ‘coming down’ from threatening situations. So for intense training activities where participants are emotional, be sure to do a follow up activity, that re-establishes the learners in a safe space. Then the learning is laid down as a stronger memory, not only as a source of perceived threat arsing from the process, but also as a source of reward arising from the resolution or outcome.

3. Kindness reward – When people do something for someone else with no expectation of reward, be it giving them a compliment, being compassionate or pretty much any kind of altruistic behavior, it releases a number of reward neurotransmitters including oxytocins, the chemical helpful in reducing stress and bonding humans.

Knowing this we can enhance learning cohort activities to be more centred on peer-based teaching. As long as they are adequately supported in achieving the learning outcomes, then not only is the learning achieved, but it is probably more deeply embedded by the altruistic nature of its acquisition, both for the teaching peer and the learning peer. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is part of the neuroscientific basis for the enormous success of informal social learning, facilitated by the internet.

How else might we tap into the neurological processes in learners and use them to enhance memory formation and to strengthen associations between new learning and the situations that stimulate its recall and application? As always, your thoughts are welcome… really. I think my oxytocin levels are dropping because nobody out there seems to love what i’m saying. Prove me wrong people and leave a comment;)